Artichoke and Lemongrass Sauce over Summer Squash Noodles

One last summer recipe before the start of fall recipes! Since fall doesn’t officially begin until next week, I feel that I’m still within reason to post a recipe with summer squash in it 🙂

Artichoke and Lemongrass Sauce over Summer Squash Noodles

Ingredients:

1 summer squash

1 tbsp ghee

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp lemongrass paste

1 handful of fresh thai basil, chopped (you can use regular basil instead)

1 can artichokes, drained and chopped 

2/3 cup full-fat coconut milk

1/4 cup feta cheese

salt and pepper 

Directions:

Use a vegetable spiralizer to make summer squash noodles. Place noodles in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.

In a deep skilled, melt ghee over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in lemongrass paste, basil, and artichokes and cook for another 3 minutes. Add in coconut milk, cheese, noodles, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve.

Advertisement

Italian Eggs over Cabbage (Paleo)

Greetings from vacation at the Jersey Shore!

While I absolutely love cooking- even while on vacation- I know some people are either too busy with outings or simply not in the mood to plan an extensive meal while in paradise. And so, I present you with a simple recipe that can please a crowd without a lot of work on your part!

While I list multiple ingredients in this recipe, you only really need three of them: tomato sauce, cabbage, and eggs. The rest are optional (yet totally recommended to boost flavor!)

Italian Eggs over Cabbage (Paleo)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp avocado oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

5 cups cabbage, chopped

2 cups tomato sauce (store-bought or homemade)

salt and pepper, to taste

3 eggs (or more, depending on how many people you’re serving)

Directions:

Heat oil in a deep skillet (that comes with a lid) and add the garlic and onions. Sauté over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, add in fennel seeds and basil, and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the chopped cabbage, tomato sauce, and salt and pepper and let cook for 10- during this time, the cabbage will shrink down and become saturated in tomato sauce.

With the back of a spatula, pat down the cabbage to create a flat surface. Crack one of the eggs into a bowl and then gently slide on top of cabbage. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Cover skillet with lid and let eggs cook through (this takes me about 15 minutes). Top with extra basil and serve.

Summer Veggie Shrimp Bake (Grain-Free)

Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of views on one specific post of mine: my Shrimp and Chicken Fajitas.

This has resulted in me craving some good ol’ shrimp lately. Since fresh summer veggies are everywhere right now, I decided to pair the two together 🙂

Summer Veggie Shrimp Bake

Ingredients:

1 large onion

2 yellow summer squash

1 eggplant

2 green peppers

1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved 

1/2 + 2 tbsp cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp avocado oil

salt and pepper

1 lb raw shrimp

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a large baking dish.

Chop the onion, squash, eggplant, and peppers into bite-sized pieces and toss in a very large bowl. Add in the tomatoes, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, avocado oil, salt, and pepper. Mix altogether and spread into the baking dish. Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

While baking, remove the shells from the shrimp and cut into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl and mix with the remaining 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese.

After the 30 minutes are up, taking the baking dish out of the oven and up the temperature to 425 degrees. Mix the shrimp into the veggie dish and place back in the oven for 15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Coconut-Tomato Sauce over Japanese Yam “Pasta” (Paleo)

For the past few days, I’ve been on a mini-road trip and vacation to visit my friend  in North Jersey. Living right on the Hudson River, this meant a day trip into New York City!

And rather than going to the #1 Tourist Spot (AKA Times Square), we decided to take the aerial tramway to Roosevelt Island. Totally recommended day trip idea! It wasn’t overcrowded as the rest of the city and I got to see the ruins of the Smallpox hospital, catch Pokemon on the promenade, and visit the FDR memorial at one of the island’s tips. I swear, I want to be proposed to there one day- so pretty and tranquil.

After the last few days of eating out, I was ready to make a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately, I was too tired from my trip to go out shopping for more ingredients and instead settled for whatever was already in my kitchen. No regrets though- this meal turned out to be a winner. The only thing I might do next time is add in some more veggies 🙂

Coconut-Tomato Sauce over Japanese Yam “Pasta” (Paleo)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp ghee (or butter or oil)

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

salt and pepper

1 and 1/3 cup full-fat, canned coconut milk

1/4 cup vegetable broth

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp fresh basil + extra for garnish

1 medium-sized Japanese yam

Directions:

Heat ghee in a deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add in garlic, onion, salt and pepper and sauté for 10 minutes. Next, stir in coconut milk, broth, tomato paste, and basil. Bring sauce to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let cook for another 10 minutes.

While waiting, make the yam into a pasta with a vegetable spiral. Once the sauce is done cooking, mix in pasta. Don’t worry if it seems like you don’t have enough sauce!- just mix it in the best you can and top with a lid. Let cook for 15 minutes (during this time, the noodles will get soft and shrink). Afterwards, stir the pasta around around in the sauce, adjust with salt and pepper, and place in a serving bowl. Top with the extra fresh basil.

Pesto (Nut-Free and Paleo)

I bumped this pesto up to the top of my “recipes to post” list because I wanted to share it before everybody’s fresh basil dries out.

My family and I are seriously obsessed with this pesto and have been putting it on everything (my favorites so far is pairing it with hamburgers, chicken, and salmon) 

And my friend who’s allergic to nuts has even been able to enjoy it because there’s no nuts involved! (Nut-free also means it’s more readily-available to make since we don’t always have containers of raw nuts around the house). 

To give it extra volume, I add a spear of broccoli to the mix. No fears though! The broccoli goes completely undetected, providing you still with a basil-pesto taste 🙂  

Pesto (Nut-Free and Paleo) 

Ingredients: 

1 spear of broccoli florets (thick stems discarded)

2/3 cup fresh basil, loosely packed 

1 handful of fresh spinach (optional)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice 

2 large garlic cloves 

1 tsp salt 

Directions: 

Place broccoli florets into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl of cold water to another 5 minutes. Drain out the water again and transfer florets to a food processor. Add rest of ingredients and process until smooth. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour to allow pesto to cool and for flavors to set. Serve!